BlogChamps Season 2 Finals Results + Season 3 Registration
Alas, the end is here. And so is the beginning! As the Season 2 Finals have now officially ended, we can now turn our full attention to Season 3 (https://www.chess.com/news/view/season-3-registration-2) .... but wait, who won Season 2? 🤨
https://www.chess.com/news/view/season-3-registration-2 Apologies, chess.com won't let me embed links right now for some reason...
Ah, yes, who will be our Season 2 BlogChampion? Was it @alphaous, who earned the top seed in The Knockouts and proceeded to procrastinate his way to the finals? With wins over the highly respected @Renate-Irene, Top Blogger @Nimzo-IndianaJones (who somehow out-procrastinated alpha! 🤯), and rising BlogStar @GMForgacs, Alpha had quite a nice run in Season 2. What was his finals submission, you ask? Hmm 👀
https://www.chess.com/blog/alphaous/why-the-london-system-is-actually-excting
Quite a bold approach, controversially suggesting the London isn't just a boring beginner tool. Controversy = clicks, but does it earn points from the judges?
The hook from the thumbnail is probably the text, suggesting the London is more useful than it appears. That probably gets you clicks. Now, when you do click on the blog itself, we immediately get to appreciate some good ol London System hate! 
I myself have even gone on record saying the London is simply super boring but very useful for beginners. I don't understand why you would choose to play the London - if you open with 1. d4, Queen's Gambit seems like a better way to go. But hey, what do I know.
@alphaous disagrees with basically everyone else. He goes on to talk about London Kingside Attacks, the Jobava London, and some London sidelines, and he does a good job with the writing, the formatting, the game diagrams and annotations, and all that good stuff. While I'm going to disagree with his take because he's wrong 😌 this was still a very good read. My only complaints would be the thumbnail - not a huge fan of it overall, it's OK but nothing more Imo - and a rather weak ending.... seems fairly sudden to me
It's fine, I simply would have added more to it. I like to have a whole section for the outro in my blog. I call it my "Good Job, You Made It To The End" part of the blog, and that's how I always wrap things up. I also would have added a second game in the Jobava London section to give viewers even more to look at, and so that there are two games in every section, but still, I'm nitpicking here. I'd give this blog an 8/10.
But... what about @DonRajesh, who surprisingly "only" got the #7 seed in The Knockouts (meaning his Finals opponent, @alphaous, did finish above him once already... 👀)? Don has had quite a run in Season 2 - taking down the surprisingly competitive @Mugiwara, long-time Top Blogger and tournament-favorite @DanielGuel, and then picking up a free win over potential future Top Blogger @NiTheGuy - it was a free win, but he may have posted his best blog (1200+ views🔥🔥🔥) in that round. Pretty solid run - but what did he bring us in the Finals? 
https://www.chess.com/blog/DonRajesh/15-ways-to-make-big-gains
"15 Ways To Make Big Gains"
Seems useful. Is there going to be something in this that applies to everyone, or just a particular rating group? That's my first question. But it's not the first thing I think... my first thought is, "Good grief how are his thumbnails always so good?" because that thumbnail is sick. Seriously, @DonRajesh and @Fire have the best thumbnails.
As far as the actual blog goes, the intro is quite nice, and he uses these anchors that will take you to later parts of the blog (which I myself don't even know how to do 🥹). 
Reading through the blog, I can now answer my initial question, which was, "Is there going to be something in this that applies to everyone, or just a particular rating group?" The answer is... yes! Good points are made here that apply to pretty much everyone. I would say all of these tips in general would help mostly anyone (with the exception of, perhaps Super GMs). One concern about there being 15 whole points is the length of the blog - you would think it'd be tough to say all you want to say while also not writing a ridiculously long blog that nobody would read - but it seems that all 15 sections are fairly simple and short, and the overall blog isn't too long. Just like alpha's blog, this was very well written, formatted, and everything really.
My only complaint may be, like with alpha, with the ending? This is me nitpicking but I may still add more to that ending if possible, it's just so short. But that's merely a personal preference I suppose and not even that big of a deal. Personally... I'm giving this a 9.5/10. I will confirm @DonRajesh receives my vote here (sorry, alpha 😟).
Sooo... who won? Both blogs were fantastic, but we can have only one winner. The judges all voted, and collectively we have decided that the winner is... 
@DonRajesh!!! Congratulations, man. Good stuff all season, outstanding post. Wouldn't be surprised if it even wins Blog Of The Month for March...
Congratulations to @alphaous, our runner-up in Season 2 - we hope to see you make a return for Season 3!
What sways the result in Don's favor, in my opinion?
For me, there simply wasn't much wrong with Don's blog at all, which automatically puts alpha at a disadvantage. Don had the better thumbnail (which is true in general, there aren't many who can compete with Don's thumbnails), the better formatting, I'd say he had the better title... there's no shame losing this if you're Alpha, there really isn't much wrong with Don's blog at all. Tough to beat that. But that's just my opinion, I'm sure the other judges have more to offer. Congrats again to both finalists, and congrats to Don on his win 😁
Aaaand right back where we started this announcement! Season 3 begins on April 1st, that's when forums for the Week 1 Qualifiers will open. April 8th is when the Week 2 Qualifiers will begin, then April 15th we have the Week 3 Qualifiers. So we should be on schedule to begin The Knockouts on April 29th, then round 2 on May 13th, then The Finals on May 27th.
The Season 3 format changed drastically, so I would recommend you check out https://www.chess.com/announcements/view/blogchamps-season-1-format-rules for more info.
To register, go to https://forms.gle/nv8YCUa5cmcMsVqj8 and if that doesn't work, just dm me. For those of you who already said they wanna compete but can't fill out the form, please dm me again so I don't forget you XD Registration is open all the way through The Qualifiers. Plenty of time, plenty of action coming soon...
That's all I got for ya. Take care, congrats to @DonRajesh, and happy blogging!
